Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-09-08


cational Association at Chicago Sam
uel Thurber of Milton, Mass, read a
paper on "The Order and Relation OF
Studies in the High School Course
from which we quote:
Whatever shape the secondary edu-
cation Of the future may take it will
be the outgrowth Of the secondary ed.
ucation Of to-day. Every school that
has history has anomalies. If it is o
famous school newer ones will be
found 70 have copied some Of its idio-
osyncrasies. The early high schools
seem to have been formed To be an cpl.
tome of All knowledge. A college de-
gree gave a man dignity. This idea
is passing away. 1t is no longer nee
essary for q teacher to be learned
man. He must know how TO teach
certain branches. The high schools in
their early form were TO serve two
purposes--to fit students for college
and to serve the ends Of education.
without a determinary principle the
school was without stability. The
school is for the sake of the pupils.
There are four aims in the school
coursc-the moral, the esthetic, the
intellectual and the practical. IL is
for us 10 see what purpose will be
served by a change of study. As soon
as the child has learned to read, the
reading book is laid aside A high
school reading book cannot be i'm
agined. A high school library is the
thing. A great deal Of cursory read
ing is necessary to offset the effects of
the text books. History cannot be
confined to text books. The reading
Of history and literature should be
perennial and composition writing
should go along with it, Pupils haY-
ing read something should be held to
the practice Of extracting the kernel
of thought and reproducing it in a
simpler form The abridgment Of the
English grammar in the schools has
gone far enough Mental and moral
science should not have a place in see
oudary education. No new high
school courses have beop planned in
Guiding those studies. Aglish gram
mar pursued as a science meets the
wants of earlier high school years, 1t
will be naturally followed by rhetoric.
Logic also has to do with language.
He who has had a good education
should come to q subject with the
power Of making reasonable distinc-
tions and arriving nj correct conclu-
siops. The English studies should
have two-iifths of the time of the high
school besides influencing all the out
side reading. The humanity of the
Romans depended ON their study Of
4 l.
up literature more interesting and
more rich in thought, The old litera-
turc of England and Germany are ex-
an,ples. Nobody speaks Latin, or
even writes it, except to show kind
of scholastic ability, The scholars OF
the middle ages would not have mdcr-
stood the arguments of to-day in favor
Of the study of the classics. The idea
of the ancient humanists was to come
in contact with the best thought, and
is still a good idea TO be carried in the
course of the education of young men.
But no dead language can now lie be-
tween the student and the best thoughts
of any age. We have English transa-
tons now.
Is a classical course worth the whileP
An educational Increment is being ear
ried on in Germany, France and Switz-
crlanG which is in sympathy with the
query As To the assumed disciplinary
use of Latin, it is an argument which
has all the modern marks OF the de-
vice. We come nearer to zero in the
amount Of Latin we give our boys and
girls than we do to 4 mastery of the
language. The studies should be
grouped around the English. Only
one foreign language should be taught.
A tour-year course in French would
give tie students g very thorough ac-
quaintance with the language. One
language thoroughly acquired will
make the study OF others much easier
The colleges will always offer courses
which require a preparatory knowl-
edge of Greek and Latin, and the high
schools must. therefore, to some eN-
tent bc preparatory. But the time
will soon come when colleges Will adj
init Students from amy high school
EVENING SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES.
AT the same session Albert Z. Mar
bic OF Massachusetts, discussed the
subject by Evening Schools. The
principal points in his paper are SUM
marized in the following:
These schools are designed To take
the place Of the old apprentice schools.
They supplement the day schools.
They are designed for persons Of both
sexes. Is Years old or more. They
furnish the opportunity for children
who have been obliged TO leave school
before they have acquired sufficient
knowledge TO study probably 10y
thcmselyCs-wh they may receive
sufficient instruction to enable them
TO use the library to advantage, and
thus become self-taught. These
schools also provide the means of in
struction for our imported fellow citi-
zens whose early opportunities were
scant, and for foreigners of other
tongues settling with us to learn our
language. 1t should not he the aim to
SO expand these schools as to make
them rs extensive with the day schools
Ia sort Of ghostly school system
masqueradiug by nigEt the shadow
the echo OF the day schools Study is
IL l. D